So I’ve been into graphic/web design ever since I was a kid, but only a year or so ago did I to get serious about getting disciplined with learning/improving. I’m 26 years old, and I work for a small web/mobile development company-I’d say I’m probably average in terms of skill-level and I previously learned just by playing and having an eye for design.
Do you have any advice for getting better? I have been balancing the time I have to learn between core art fundamentals reading and tutorials for advanced photoshop techniques.
First, understand that you can have the greatest Photoshop skills in the world and still be a bad graphic designer. Now having those skills is helpful as far as execution, but graphic design is something different. More fundamental. I would study people like Paul Rand, Milton Glaser, Neville Brody, Seymour Chwast, Saul Bass. Also, get a book on old posters from Europe. The works of people like Cassandre, Cappiello, and Carlu can be instructive. The best graphic designers I know, regardless of their computer skills, can all communicate their ideas in very basic sketch form, though none of them are good drawers, except one. One other thing that they all share is a feel for typography. So, try to really get intimate with it. A class can be really helpful in this, in that it’s a hard thing to digest on your own in a deep way. I’d add: think simple, think composition, balance, weight, tension.
This confirms what I already had in my mind-I actually am one of those guy’s that had the “eye” but lacked the tools or disciplined understanding of what an “eye” for design might mean. I think I’ve gotta attack it from both a technique and fundamentals perspective.
I will definitely check our those sources you mentioned-thank you!
Rand, Glaser, Chwast and Bass are big names from a generation or two ago. Besides looking at them and European posters, I’d suggest looking at the work of current advertising designers in some of the top magazines.
Print may (or may not) be dying, but graphic design is about creating visually interesting, but clear and readable images within a limited two-dimensional area. Whether it’s printed or displayed on a screen, the fundamentals are the same. The better ad agencies hire the better designers. Check out what they’re doing.
I’m thirty years out of college now, but back then there were some magazines devoted to graphic design and typography. I’ve forgotten their names, but they or others are probably around still.
